Obama Vows E-Health Records for Vets

President Obama says the United States will create a Joint Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record for military personnel. The electronic health records will be designed to move with personnel throughout their military careers and afterward.

President Obama said April 9 the United States has taken the first steps to
create portable electronic health records for all military personnel.
Under the plan, the Department of Defense and the Department
of Veterans Affairs will ultimately be able to seamlessly communicate
the health records of veterans.

Currently, there is no
comprehensive system in place that allows for a streamlined transition
of health care records between DOD and the VA. The White House said it worked with DOD Secretary Robert Gates and VA Secretary
Eric Shinseki to
support advanced funding of veterans' medical care.

"I'm asking both departments to work together to define
and build a seamless system of integration with a simple goal: When a
member of the Armed Forces separates from the military, he or she will
no longer have to walk paperwork from a DOD duty station to a local VA
health center; their electronic records will transition along with them
and remain with them forever," Obama said.

The president has repeatedly said one of his goals is to transform the
country's health care
delivery system. One of the linchpins of his plan is to move to
paperless administration of benefits, providing a framework to give
health care providers the information they need to deliver high-quality
health care while
reducing medical errors.

Obama said the military e-health records would "represent a huge step towards modernizing the way
health care is delivered and benefits are administered for our nation's
veterans. It would cut through red tape and reduce the number of
administrative mistakes."